THE Danish Royal Family, the longest-serving in Europe, which has long been proud of its solid family values in a country renowned for its aversion to marriage, has announced its first divorce in 158 years.

Prince Joachim, the second son of Queen Margrethe, is to divorce his Hong Kong-born wife Princess Alexandra after nine years. It is the first divorce in the family founded by the Viking Gorm the Old, who died in 958, since 1846, when King Frederik VII divorced Princess Caroline.

“After many difficult considerations, we have jointly decided to separate with the intention of seeking a divorce,” the couple said in a palace statement.

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, expressed his Government’s great regret at the news: “It is a difficult and deeply personal decision that the Prince and Princess have had to make together. It is a big decision that we must all respect and understand.”

The couple had met at a private dinner in 1994 in Hong Kong, where Prince Joachim was working for the Danish shipping company Maersk. Alexandra Manley, who was working as a fund manager, made her first visit to Denmark six months later. The Prince, 35, and Alexandra, 40, married in 1995, and have two sons, the princes Nikolai and Felix, aged five and two.

In May this year Joachim’s elder brother, Crown Prince Frederik, married Mary Donaldson, whom he met while watching the Sydney Olympics, and who is set to become the first Australian to be a Queen.

The Danish media have recently speculated that Prince Joachim and his wife were growing apart, amid reports of the Prince’s increasing fondness for parties and fast cars. Popular magazines and serious newspapers alike have in recent months carried extensive reports of his allegedly rowdy behaviour and social gaffes, such as his reported public drunkenness at the Midem international music festival at Cannes in January.

According to the Copenhagen tabloid Ekstra Bladet, the couple have been leading separate lives for some time. They “have been apart seven times during the last eight or so months,” it said, adding that the Prince had “become something of a party prince with a passion for loud music, strong drink and attractive female company”.

Niels Eilschou Holm, the palace’s legal expert, said the divorce was “a private matter”.

A Bill will be sent to parliament to approve an annual allowance for Alexandra. By law she has to remain in Denmark with her sons because of the rules of succession. Crown Prince Frederik has not yet produced any heirs.

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